No war generated more radical theories, more scientific breakthroughs, more tactical innovations, or more technological leaps than World War II, and in Britain, the drive for these advances came from nowhere more strongly than from Winston Churchill, argues Taylor Downing. The managing director and head of history at Britain's Flashback Television, Downing shows how Churchill's passion for military history, his unique leadership style, and his patronization of radical new ideas fuelled an extraordinary outpouring of British genius, whose technological and tactical inventions Downing chronicles here.

"While Downing does justice to the work of Winston's intellectual 'war wizards,' it is his vivid and fast-paced retelling of Churchill's remarkable career—from callow war correspondent to battle-hardened leader of men—that takes center stage."—Financial Times (London)